43 Percent Of Parents With Babies Zero To Six Months Get Only One To Three Hours Of Uninterrupted Sleep Per Night

PROVO, Utah, May 2, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- May is Better Sleep Month – a time to focus attention on the importance of how sleep contributes to overall physical, emotional and overall well being. A new survey from Owlet Baby Care, makers of the Owlet Smart Sock, uncovers eye-opening information about the shut-eye habits and routines of parents of newborn children, a group who consistently gets less sleep than the general population.

According to the survey only five percent of parents of babies zero to six months old are getting the recommended eight hours of sleep a night. Forty-three percent report only getting an average of one to three hours of uninterrupted sleep per night, in fact, 17 percent of moms report getting a poor night sleep every single night of the week due to their newborn. According to the Journal of Sleep Medicine, interrupted sleep can be just as detrimental to mood, attention span and cognitive ability as no sleep at all, and several nights of fragmented sleep can have long-term negative consequences.

"Owlet conducted this survey to shed light on the sleep related issues that parents of newborns face, especially in the first six months," said Kurt Workman, CEO and co-founder of Owlet Baby Care. "Many of us at Owlet are parents to newborns, so we understand first-hand how having a newborn can have a major impact on parents' ability to get a good night sleep. While striving for a solid eight hours when you have a newborn is pretty unrealistic, we developed our safe sleep system to provide parents with peace of mind while their baby is sleeping so they can worry a little less and get more sleep."

The State of (Un)Rest
Although a majority of parents share night time responsibilities, moms are getting up far more regularly. In fact, 32 percent of moms report that their spouse or partner never get out of bed to check on baby at night, while only seven percent of dads report that mom never got out of bed. 

The age old advice of "sleep when baby sleeps" doesn't hold true for today's parents with 41 percent reporting that they are never able to sleep during the daytime hours while their newborn sleeps. To those parents of newborns who are no stranger to sleep deprivation, the survey shows they'd be willing to shell out the big bucks for a solid night's sleep. Half of parents said they would pay at least $100 for a full eight hours of uninterrupted sleep, with about one in 10 parents saying they would pay $1,000.

As a result of sleepless nights, parents report falling asleep in some pretty interesting places:

• Close to one-third (30 percent) of new fathers have fallen asleep at work.
• One in five (21 percent) of new parents have fallen asleep in a parked car.
• Twelve percent have fallen asleep at the kitchen table.
• Eleven percent have fallen asleep in the shower.

Setting a Routine
Parents spend a lot of time trying to get a routine in place to help their little one get to sleep and sleep longer. Ninety-one percent of parents have a bedtime routine for their newborns, and it can take a long time to get through it! Twenty-one percent report that it takes at least 45 minutes to put their baby to bed each night.

Worries, Concerns and Tasks that Keep Parents Awake
Aside from their newborn keeping them up at night, new parents report a variety of activities and concerns preventing them from getting sleep.

• Moms are most often kept awake by a practical chore—housework— (37 percent)
• Dads report a more cerebral worry that most often keeps them up—providing a good life for their child (32 percent).
• New moms are more likely to report being kept awake by social media (30 percent) than dads (18 percent).
• Parents are still trying to keep the spark alive! About one in five new parents also report that aside from their newborn waking in the middle of the night, sex keeps them up at night.

More About The Owlet Baby Monitor
The Owlet Baby Monitor is a unique device that leverages pulse oximetry, the same technology used in hospitals, miniaturized into a baby sock designed to alert parents if their baby's oxygen levels and heart rate are out of range. With unintentional suffocation a leading cause of injury death among U.S. children under the age of one, it's no wonder parents often have trouble getting a good night's sleep during baby's first year. Moms and dads can rest easy knowing the Owlet Monitor silently watching over their little one, giving them peace of mind, and maybe even a full night's sleep.

About Owlet Baby Care
Owlet Baby Care, Inc. was founded in 2013 by a team of passionate parents who wanted to bring themselves, and other parents around the globe, peace of mind and assurance by developing a monitor that tracks a baby's breathing and heart rate. Using pulse oximetry, the same technology used in hospitals, the Owlet Smart Sock is designed to send alerts, to the base station and via WiFi to a smartphone, if a baby were to stop breathing while sleeping. Learn more at OwletCare.com.

About the Study
Owlet Baby Care commissioned a study of parents of newborns to find out about their sleep habits, what keeps them up at night, and what helps them (and baby) get the best sleep. This study was conducted by CARAVAN® ORC International among a sample of 500 parents of children under age 2. The field period was April 6-10, 2016.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160502/362318-INFO

SOURCE Owlet Baby Care

Related Links

http://www.owletcare.com